Door lock



Aug. 30, 1955 Filed Feb. 25, 1955 Huh! J. A. TURCOTT DOOR LOCK 2Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. Jase 4 4. TURCOTT 4 710A ms United StatesPatent DOOR LOCK Joseph A. Turcott, Detroit, Mich.

Application February 25, 1953, Serial No. 338,750

Claims. (Cl. 232-144) It is the further object of this invention toprovide a magnetically operated device for effecting intermittentopening and closing movements of a latch bolt between a door and doorjamb.

These and other objects will be seen from the following specificationand claims in conjunction with the appended drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a fragmentary elevational view of a vehicle dashboardillustrating signal lights and switch for a remote electrically operabledoor latching device for a vehicle.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary broken away partially sectioned side elevationalview of the interior of a door within which the latching mechanism ismounted, being a section taken on line 22 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 is a section taken on line 33 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary wiring diagram of the electrical connections forthe present door latching device.

It will be understood that the above drawings illustrate merely apreferred embodiment of the invention, and that other embodiments arecontemplated within the scope of the claims hereafter set forth.

Referring to the drawings, Fig. 1 fragmentarily illus trates, forexample, a portion of a vehicle door 11 and its positioning with respectto the door jamb 12; it being contemplated that the present mechanismwould be just as easily adapted for the locking of any door with respectto its door jamb, such as a house door. In the present construction, thedoor 11 is hollow and has an inner metallic wall portion 14 and asuitable covering 13 thereon which is conventional in vehicles.

The present door latching device includes a substantially fiat plate 15,which is positioned adjacent the interior surface of wall element 14.The flat plate 15 has a pair of outturned wall elements 17 and 18 inparallel spaced relation which are transversely apertured at 19 and 19',for slidably receiving therethrough the horizontally reciprocal latchbolt 20.

One end of the bolt 20 in the dotted line position shown as 24 iscooperatively and retainingly received within the latch opening 21formed in the door jamb 12, which opening may be bound by the bushing22. The other dotted line position 23 illustrates the fully openedposition of the latch bolt 20 disengaged from the jamb 12.

Bolt mounting blocks 25 and 26 are suitably secured to the inner surfaceof plate 15 and are suitably apertured to receive the lever mountingbolt 27 upon the inner end of which is pivotally mounted latch operatinglever 28.

The upper end of said lever is longitudinally forked at 29 defining thecentral slot 30 which terminates at "ice the upper end of said lever andis adapted to slidably receive the transverse pin 31 and cooperatingwasher 32, which threadedly engages latch bolt 20 intermediate its ends.

The opposite end of lever 28 is longitudinally forked at 33 defining thelongitudinal slot 34, which opens at the lower end of said lever forcooperatively and slidably receiving the transverse eccentric pin 35,which is threaded transversely through ratchet wheel 36 adjacent itsperiphery.

Said ratchet wheel has a central square opening therethrough tocooperatively receive the squared head 37 on the rotatable bolt 38,which is journaled through the bushing 41 welded to the interior surfaceof plate 15 as at 42.

The threaded washer 39 threadedly engages the left end portion ofrotatable bolt 38 and is adapted to maintain said bolt in positionagainst relative longitudinal movement. The bolt 38 has a transverselyslotted head 40, and is positioned within a suitable opening upon theinterior of the door panel to permit the manual application of a screwdriver thereto.

Pawl 43 is pivotally mounted at 44 upon the plate 45 upon the outer endof the flexible support 46, which is magnetic.

Support 46 is anchored at its opposite end by the rivet 47 to the secondflexible support 48, which is anchored at its free end at 49 to thesupport 50 secured at 51 to plate 15.

Spring 52 is connected at 53 to a portion of flexible support 46 and atits opposite end is connected to pawl 43 as at 54.

Adjustable contact bolt 55 is threaded up through support 56 secured at57 to plate 15, and has a spring 58 interposed between the head of saidbolt and said support for frictionally maintaining said bolt in thedesired position of adjustment relative to flexible support 48.

Rubber stop 59 is positioned upon the opposite side of flexible support46 and is spaced upwardly therefrom to limit upward movements of support46. Said stop is carried by the adjustable bolt 60, which is threaded upthrough the support 61 suitably secured to plate 15.

Plate 62 is also anchored upon the inner surface of plate 15 as at63 andhas an out-turned detent 64 cooperatively engageable with the teeth ofratchet wheel 36 for preventing counterclockwise rotation thereof andalso acting as a friction stop for said ratchet wheel.

Magnetic coil 65 is supported as by the plate 71 upon the inner surfaceof plate 1.5 and has a conventional magnetic core to which the pawlsupport 46 is intermittently and magnetically responsive in the mannerhereafter described.

As shown in Fig. 1, the dashboard 66 is provided with a manual switch 67for closing the electrical circuit 69 from the battery 68 to the leadwire 70 which connects coil 71. A second lead wire 72 extends from coil71 and joins the contact supporting plate 56. With the flexible support48 in the position shown in contact with the bolt 55, the electricalcircuit is completed to the flexible pawl support 46, which through theratchet 36 completes the electrical circuit to the battery 68, which issuitably grounded to the vehicle body.

Insulation block 73 has secured thereon in horizontally spaced relationa pair of contacts 74 and 76 arranged upon opposite sides of lever 28and secured to the insulation block 73 by the screws 75. Contact 74 isconnected by lead Wire 76' to the bulb 77 in the dashboard 66, so thatwhen the lever 28 reaches one extreme position of pivotal adjustment, asindicated in dotted lines, the electrical circuit to the bulb 77 will becompleted illuminating said bulb to visibly indicate that the later bolt20 is in the dotted line position 23 and completely disengaged from thejamb 12. Preferably, the bulb 77 is red.

Lead wire 78 is connected to the contact 76 as shown in Figs. 2 and 4,and is also joined to the bulb 79, which is suitably grounded in thevehicle dashboard 66. This latter bulb is green, for example, and willbe energized when the electrically conductive lever 23 is in its otherextreme position of pivotal adjustment. Consequently the bulb 79 will beilluminated when the latch bolt 20 is in its extreme locked position 24,indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2.

Referring to Fig. 2, a plurality of screws 80 are shown for furtherconnecting the plate 17 with a portion of the door upon which it ismounted.

Operation In operation, the user merely presses the switch button 67 toenergize the magnetic coil 71. The electrical circuit through the coiland through the lead 72 to the contact 55 and thence through thesupports 48 and 46 and the pawl 43 and ratchet wheel 36, will be brokenjust as soon as the magnetic force built up within the coil 71 is ofsufficient extent as to attract thereto the pawl support 46. However,this upward movement of pawl support 46 brings the pawl 43 intooperative engagement with ratchet wheel 36 to effect a slight incrementof rotation in a clockwise direction. The breaking of the circuit andcontact 55 with support 48 momentarily de-magnetizes coil 71 and permitsthe pawl support 46 to flexibly return to its initial inoperativeposition, with support 48 again in contact with the contact element 55.

This re-establishes the electrical circuit through the magnetic coil 71,so that in effect said coil is intermittently magnetized andtie-magnetized to thereby obtain a vibratory movement of the pawl 43. Ittherefore follows that this vibratory movement of pawl 43 rotating theratchet wheel 36 will continue as long as the switch 67 is manuallydepressed.

When the lever 28 at its upper end has reached the dotted line positionto the right in Fig. 2, the latch bolt 20 is fully disengaged from thedoor jamb 12 and is in position 23. Lever 28 engages contact 74 closingthe circuit to bulb 7'7, and the operator can remove his finger from theswitch 67 and know that the bolt is fully unlocked.

By the same arrangement, a second application of the switch 67 willeifect continued rotation of the ratchet wheel 36. By virtue of theeccentric connection 35 of lever 28 with wheel 36, it is apparent thatsaid lever when in its left hand dotted line position, Fig. 2, ofextreme movement, electrical circuit through contact 76 and bulb 79 willbe completed, indicating that the bolt 20 is in locked position 24, andthe switch 67 may be manually disengaged.

While the present construction illustrates the use of a single boltoperating mechanism for one door of a vehicle, it is contemplated thatthe present locking mechanism may be adapted to as many doors of avehicle as is desired for operation in unison. All of the doors ifdesired may be locked at one moment or simultaneously unlocked asdesired.

Having described my invention, reference should now be had to the claimswhich follow for determining the scope thereof.

I claim:

1. In combination, a support, a longitudinally reciprocal latch boltmounted on the support, a lever pivotally mounted intermediate its endsupon said support and pivotally and slidably joined at one end to acentral portion of said bolt, a power rotated wheel journaled on saidsupport, and means eccentrically connecting said wheel to the other endof said lever for reciprocally tilting the same about its pivotalmounting for positively opening and closing said bolt.

2. In combination, a support, a longitudinally reciprocal latch boltmounted on the support, a lever pivotally mounted intermediate its endsupon said support and pivotally and slidably joined at one end to acentral portion of said bolt, a power rotated wheel journaled on saidsupport, and means eccentrically connecting said wheel to the other endof said lever for reciprocally tilting the same about its pivotalmounting for positively opening and closing said bolt, the opposite endsof said lever being longitudinally forked for sliding connection withsaid bolt and wheel respectively.

3. In combination, a support, a longitudinally reciprocal latch boltmounted on the support, a lever pivotally mounted intermediate its endsupon said support and pivotally and slidably joined at one end to acentral portion of said bolt, a-ratchet wheel journaled on said support,means eccentrically connecting said wheel to the other end of saidlever, and a power operated pawl intermittently engageable with saidratchet wheel for rotating the same to reciprocally tilt said leverabout its pivotal mounting for positively opening and closing said bolt.

4. in combination, a support, a longitudinally reciprocal latch boltmounted on the support, a lever pivotallymounted intermediate its endsupon said support and pivotally and slidably joined at one end to acentral portion of said bolt, a ratchet wheel journaled on said support,means eccentrically connecting said wheel to the other end of saidlever, a pawl intermittently engageable with said ratchet wheel forrotating the same to reciprocally tilt said lever about its pivotalmounting for positively opening and closing said bolt, a flexiblevibratory support for said pawl, and a magnetic coil adapted whenenergized to eitect intermittent flexing movements of said supportwhereby said pawl rotates said wheel for reciprocally tilting said leverabout its pivotal mounting.

5. In combination, a support, a longitudinally reciprocal shaft on saidsupport, a lever pivotally mounted intermediate its ends upon saidsupport and pivotally and slidably joined at one end to a centralportion of said shaft, a ratchet wheel journaled on said support, meanseccentrically connecting said wheel to the other end of said lever, apawl intermittently engageable with said ratchet wheel for rotating thesame to reciprocally tilt said lever about its pivotal mounting forpositively reciprocating said shaft, a flexible vibratory support forsaid pawl, and a magnetic coil adapted when energized to eifectintermittent flexing movements of said support whereby said pawl rotatessaid wheel.

Christiansen Mar. 22, 1949v

